What To Do With Leftover Poached Salmon
Jess is currently on the ground in Singapore, so we're bringing you one of her popular Lunch columns from the past year.
Too big a deal is made over leftover chicken. Yes, roasting a chicken is easy as pie, and the leftovers can go in that pie, or pasta, or soup, but it's still just going to be chicken. The real leftover gold is in that poached salmon nobody decided to polish off. It's even better cold the next day, and takes to a world of lunch applications. Plus it's healthier and, quite frankly, classier. And that signature salmon stank doesn't pervade the office kitchen if you don't microwave it, so don't.
Don't know how to poach salmon? Check out this recipe. So now you have a cold poached salmon fillet. Well done, let's get to work. Break out the mayo, lemon juice, fresh dill and chopped cucumbers, flake the salmon and gradually add the other ingredients, tasting often, until you're satisfied with the results. Remember, you can add mayo, you can't take it away. Stuff the results in a pita smeared with a little Greek yogurt and you have a portable powerhouse that will carry you to dinner in style.
Want to scale that up a little? Fry a clove of garlic in a little olive oil until softened, then add a splash of heavy cream, some chopped parsley and the coarsely chopped vegetable of your choice. Boil up some farfalle or other pasta shape until al dente, drain, toss with the garlic-cream mixture and chunks of leftover salmon and deposit directly into a Tupperware for the next day. That is not boring pasta salad. That is awesome pasta salad.
And to scale it down, meet your new salmon sandwich: remove fish from fridge. Trim to the size of the bread you're going to use (sturdy rolls work very well here). Place salmon inside with ...well, anything. Dijon mustard fan? Kimchi obsessive? (Okay that might be pushing the limits of what your office mates will allow you to eat in peace.) Even if it's lettuce, tomato and a few slices of bacon that accompany your fillet to its final destination, at least you can say "today I didn't eat chicken."
More leftover salmon ideas on Food Republic: